True Detective Season 2: Give Vince Vaughn A Chance

True Detective Season 2: Give Vince Vaughn A Chance

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Vince Vaughn was circling a role in the second season of HBO's neo-noir crime saga True Detective. The news was met with a collective "Huh?" from the Internet's peanut gallery. But, now that fans of the show have at least one foot off the collective ledge, we'd like to ask you to give Vince Vaughn a chance.

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Remember, before Matthew McConaughey emerged as the Oscar-winning dramatic force he is today, he was known more for his tan than his talent. Then the actor delivered a series of revelatory performances — including one as the dreary nihilist Rust Cohle in True Detective's landmark first season — and just like that, the McConaissance was born.

One look at the current state of Vaughn's career, and it's easy to draw parallels to McConaughey pre-True Detective. His most recent efforts in lifeless comedies like The Dilemma, The Internship, and Delivery Man were poorly received and seem to have officially wrung Vaughn's fast-talking-wise-guy-with-a-heart shtick bone dry.

In other words: Vince Vaughn is in a rut. That's the bad news. The good news is that Vaughn knows how to go dark, which he's proved in films like Clay Pigeons and Psycho, both of which saw him play serial killers with a predilection for blood. That experience may serve Vaughn well here, as he's expected to sign on as a sleazy businessman with corrupt political leanings who may also have a taste for murder.

In fact, even Vaughn's onscreen good guys are laced with a thin layer of sleaze and deviousness. Think Trent, the jive-talking misogynist from Swingers, and Jeremy from Wedding Crashers, whose whole life was one giant fraud.

Furthermore, the casting in True Detective's first season was so note-perfect that it's hard not to trust the show's creators to hit the nail on the head the second time around.